The Sun also rises in Denver: welcome to the Vine Street Pub, part 1

The wonderfully welcoming entrance to the Vine Street Pub,presented by the lovely Jill Katzenberger.

Photo by Dondi Barrowclough

Sometimes, even the Boulder Tourist Spots Examiner's got to skip town for a little while. In this case the promise of excellent company and sensational stouts at the Vine Street Pub in Denver were more than enough reasons for me! The serendipity of such moments always surprises me a little: while chatting with my friend Jill, a phenomenal aerialist who often attends open workout session at the Boulder Circus Center (more on that another time) at a session last Saturday about Stout Month, I mentioned that I really wanted to get down to the Vine Street Pub to check out Stout Month's offerings there. For me to get to Vine Street and back requires 4 hours and 8 bus transfers, as I don't have a car, and Jill lives within biking distance of the pub. So when she proposed a "rehydration" session at Vine Street after this weekend's workout, my answer was an instant yes. Not only would I have the chance to check out the pub, but it effectively cut my transit time down to a couple of quick rides back to Boulder.

Arriving at Vine Street, which is on the corner of 17th and--you guessed it--Vine Streets in the Uptown section of Denver, we met up with a couple more of Jill's friends, Bard and Mark, and got right down to business: I started with an Addiction Imperial Stout, which I'd been craving since my introduction to it last week, and Jill got a Dropkick Stout. The pub, which is a really beautiful, roomy place with all the casual comforts of the Sun pubs in Boulder, has a definite "Denver" vibe to it. The consensus around my table was that the place should really have been called the "Denver Sun" or the "Urban Sun" or something along those lines, and we wondered why the owners decided to name it "Vine Street" instead. Our second round was ordered: four Old School Irish Stouts. It was the only stout that applied to happy hour and we all liked the looks of it, so we thought we'd give it a shot. Over the dark, dry brews topped with thick, creamy heads, we continued to ruminate over the place's name, its popularity (which, according to Jill, Mark, and Bard, is immense), and what we would ask any of the owners or managers if we had the chance. As luck would have it...

Stay tuned for Part 2!

For more info on The Vine Street Pub in Denver, or the Mountain or Southern Sun pubs in Boulder, check out http://www.mountainsunpub.com/.